Huntsville makes top ten in ‘Tech Town’ study

Huntsville is among the nation’s top 10 destinations for tech jobs, according to a new survey.

CompTIA, an information technology association and provider of IT certifications, places Huntsville 10th among the nation’s “Tech Towns.”

This is based on data on tech job openings, median salaries and cost of living.

The ranking was based on job posting data from Aug. 2017 to July of this year among metropolitan areas greater than 250,000, where demand for tech jobs is the greatest. The cities' rankings were also based according to cost of living, the number of open IT positions and projected job growth over the next year, and the next five years.

Huntsville was one of several Southern cities making the list, including Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., Austin and Dallas, Texas, and Atlanta. Some of those high rankings were due to cost of living. San Jose and San Francisco, Calif., part of Silicon Valley, checked in at Nos. 4 and 5, due to high housing costs.

According to CompTIA, 10,920 tech jobs were posted in Huntsville over a 12-month period, with the median salary for IT pros at $91,998. In addition, the number of IT jobs in Huntsville is expected to grow 4 percent over the next five years, while the cost of living there is 3.3 percent lower than the national average.

In fact, cost of living was the reason Huntsville placed so high, with the study promising techies “more bang for your buck.”

“Today, the area is home to the third most technical workforce in the country, with nearly 17 percent of the workforce in a STEM job, according to an analysis,” the study said. “But don’t let the affordability of this Alabama city fool you. In response to the growing tech sector, Huntsville’s city center has undergone a renaissance in recent years, and new construction downtown means more shopping, dining, entertainment and housing options.”

Among those firms said to be hiring are SAIC, Jacobs Engineering, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Colsa, Raytheon, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and PeopleTec.